OMM: Refusal to treat

10+ Year Member

I had a very weird experience this week, which has left me perplexed. I went to a medical office where 5 doctors practice together, one of whom is a D.O. I went for a routine booster shot, and while there one of the M.D. docs stopped in to talk. I asked him about making an appointment to see his D.O. partner, and specifically requested OMM for my aching shoulder. It sometimes gets aggravated when I work out, and I have had OMM before and it did give me some relief. Anyway, this doc told me that his D.O. partner did not do OMM, and that it wasn't done in their offices. I asked him if that was true even if a patient specifically requested it, and he said yes! Has anyone ever been refused this treatment before? I know that this doc graduated from TCOM, so he was taught how to do it. What do you guys think? It's not as if I was a drug seeker looking for controlled substances! I can't imagine that it would be unusual for a person to ask for OMM for a sports related injury either. Should the D.O. refuse to give this treatment based on what would have to be his personal opinion even when a patient makes a reasonable request for it?

10+ Year Member

I've talked to a few DO's and my understanding is that OMM is skill that must be developed. It is not something you become an expert at just by doing the 300-500 hours of training during med school. Most of the DO's who use OMT (and who are good at doing it) have pursued fellowships or extra training in it during residency. It could be that the DO you requested OMT from did not feel properly trained enough to treat you with OMT. Maybe if you talk directly with the DO he/she can at least recommend you to some DO's who do practice OMT.

Rhetoric is never absolutely discarded from reason, else language dies.

"I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them"--Spinoza

Stop hovering to collapse...Click to collapse...Hover to expand...Click to expand...

7+ Year Member

I agree with Prolixless...call the office and make an appointment with Dr. So and So (the D.O.). Don't say anything about the OMM until you are with the D.O. Once with him, ask him about OMM for your shoulder. I assume he'll either do it, tell you he doesn't practice OMM, or he'll refer you to a D.O. that does. Wouldn't you rather go to an OMM specialist anyway?

10+ Year Member

do you guys practice OMM on your classmates during your years in med school.. and does this practice help in the development of your OMM skills or is it not frequent enough to really help a student improve?

10+ Year Member

At UHS we practiced on eachother all the time. During test weeks and such, it is not uncommon to just walk up to a friend and ask them to work on a sore spot in your back or neck.

Not all DO's enjoy doing OMT. I know that I certainly do not want to build a practice around it, so I would be hesitant to treat patients who only wanted OMT..let them go to a specialist. This is not to say that I won't use it as an adjunct with some of my patients, because I'm sure I will. I will resist taking patients who only want OMT..it's just not my area of interest. It is no biggie that the DO at your clinic doesn't do OMT, just find a specialist or a student to help you.

10+ Year Member

I didn't know that there were actually specialty boards in OMM. We don't have that many D.O.s here, so I guess I'll have to wait until I get to school and then maybe someone will do it for me. It does provide some incentive to learn this skill well enough so that I won't have to refuse if some patient asks for it (even if my practice isn't based around it).

7+ Year Member

I am from CA, and found that when I interviewed at CA schools, they tended to really downplay OMM. It wasn't until I interviewed in Missouri that faculty and students were making a big deal over OMM as both a daignostic technique and a therapy.
I have also had the experience of a DO that did not do OMM...he said that he was not ever very good and long out of practice. He also was in an office with MDs.

miaou

"Treat people as if they were what they should be, and you will help them become what they are capable of being." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"What do you mean, 10 months of ER for internship?!"

PGY-1 Traditional Rotating Internship
Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital

PGY-2 Harvard University
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Stop hovering to collapse...Click to collapse...Hover to expand...Click to expand...

10+ Year Member

I knew the power of OMM from a physician that studied in England. I am in California, and I had a similar impression to electra. TUCOM wasn't as impressive in the OMM department as KCOM.
I chose KCOM because of their OMM department, strictly because of how professional their OMM department conducts itself. OMM is the specialty that I want to focus on, and I can understand why other physicians wouldn't want to do OMM in their office. Some doctors just aren't set up with a proper table, and they never really wanted to do OMM in their practice.

10+ Year Member

drusso's correct.... I shadowed an "100% OMM" practician as she called herself. She relies on her other doctor partners to do other things.... She felt that OMM is a skill she wanted to keep and felt that she had to fully immerse herself to the practice. Humbly she expressed that despite practicing over 25 years she still feels she is constantly learning.

So to the original post, the doc must not be comfortable anymore.... JMTC (Just my two cents)

10+ Year Member

I knew the power of OMM from a physician that studied in England. I am in California, and I had a similar impression to electra. TUCOM wasn't as impressive in the OMM department as KCOM.
I chose KCOM because of their OMM department, strictly because of how professional their OMM department conducts itself. OMM is the specialty that I want to focus on, and I can understand why other physicians wouldn't want to do OMM in their office. Some doctors just aren't set up with a proper table, and they never really wanted to do OMM in their practice.